What are you Waiting For?

763,000 PILOTS AND 739,000 AVIATION MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS (AMT) ARE NEEDED WITHIN THE NEXT 20 YEARS.

If you think about those numbers in terms of a city’s population, it’s the same as saying nearly every single person in Philadelphia would be hired for a job as a pilot or AMT before 2040. Simply put, that’s a lot of opportunity in the aviation industry. That means that more than 1.5 million aviation jobs will be ready for hire as most Generation Z-ers begin their career search.

To add to this, COVID-19 has accelerated the projected need for talented pilots and AMTs due to paused talent engagement and early retirements.

And according to Boeing’s Pilot and Technician Outlook 2020-2039, there’s never been a better time to start flight or AMT training. The study shares, “Aspiring aviators who begin their training today will be well positioned to take advantage of new job opportunities as the industry recovers.”

LIFT Academy has made significant pivots to their approach in recruitment, flight training and AMT apprenticeship programs throughout the pandemic. In order to continue to bring in new students while keeping current flight and maintenance students engaged, LIFT utilized state-of-the-art technologies and airline-readiness focused curriculum.

“Fortunately, flight training innovation has been our niche since we opened our hangar doors in 2018,” Ed Bagden, Associate Director of Flight Operations and Safety, shared. “While COVID-19 wasn’t in our plans or anyone else’s, we quickly adapted to technology for our students and instructors to develop our own modern flight-training curriculum customized to the way we train our students in the aircraft.”

LIFT Academy, owned and operated by Republic Airways, has grown to become one of the largest flight schools in the country with nearly 50 Diamond Aircraft and around 300 students, apprentices and instructors.

“The pilot and technician shortages aren’t going to wait for us to have pilots and AMTs trained and ready for the airlines. We found a way to keep students up to speed with their training and safe while doing so,” Bagden added.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

Reading the headlines or scrolling through Twitter wouldn’t paint the picture of demand that you just read. But if you talk with industry experts, you’ll hear the urgency in their voice, encouraging you to sign up for that discovery flight or submit that flight school or AMT training application. Simply put, expert advice would tell you to follow your dreams in aviation. There won’t just be demand for you to fill a seat, there will be room for you to build a successful, rewarding career. A career where you can travel the world, a career that allows you to meet new people every day, a career that enables you to work with technology, troubleshooting and problem solving.

And when it comes to a return on investment for the upfront cost of training, more and more scholarships are available to make it possible for aviation enthusiasts to follow their dreams.

Taking the first step to applying for flight school or AMT training is intimidating, and maybe you don’t even know where to start. Reading this magazine is one great step. There are organizations out there, too, for people just like you—Experimental Aircraft Association, Triple Tree Aerodrome, Women in Aviation’s Girls in Aviation programming, and more. Most flight training schools, like LIFT Academy, offer discovery flights where you can experience a real flight to decide if you’re truly passionate about flying.

Once you decide becoming a pilot or AMT is the path for you, exploring LIFT Academy and meeting with their recruitment team will put you on the runway.